KAITO
KAITO is a Japanese VOCALOID developed originally by Yamaha Corporation and distributed by Crypton Future Media, Inc., and was initially released in February 2006 for the first VOCALOID engine. There has since been a second installment developed for the VOCALOID3 engine dubbed KAITO V3. His voice is provided by the famous Japanese singer, Naoto Fūga (風雅 なおと). Concept Etymology The product's name was invited to be chosen by the public, and "KAITO" was selected from among the applicants, which was Shu-tP's offered idea.http://fuga-naoto.syncl.jp/?p=diary&di=207375 Fuga Naoto Blog - お返事！http://moriomorito.blog27.fc2.com/blog-entry-559.html Morio Morito Blog - MEIKOとKAITOのパケ絵描いた人について+α "Illustrators that illustrated Meiko and Kaito" One of the reasons why his name "KAITO" was selected was because it would be easy for non-Japanese speakers to pronounce, and it looked fitting with the name "MEIKO" when they were put next to one another.http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/president/2008/05/12/19477.html INTERNET Watch - クリプトン・フューチャー・メディア社長 伊藤博之氏（前編） (Crypton Future Media president Hiroyuki Itō (part one)) KAITO's codename was "TARO"http://vocaloid.blog120.fc2.com/blog-entry-16738.html 最初のコードネームは、MEIKOはHANAKOで、KAITOはTAROということですね。; it likely came from "Yamada Tarō (山田太郎)", a placeholder name for male characters and the Japanese equivalent to "John Smith". KAITO is often mistakenly called "Kaito Shion" or "Shion Kaito", particularly by overseas fans. "Shion" was a fan-created term used to refer to him during the 2007-2009 period. Due to its common sighting, it was incorrectly used by fans as his family name even at the time of the VOCALOID4 engine's release. Officially, the character is known just as "KAITO"; he has no family name or surname. Appearance The illustration was done by Takashi Kawasaki. Crypton did not set his character and profile except for his package design. Like MEIKO, he was not made with the aim of giving character or personality to vocal synthesis software.http://www30.atwiki.jp/niconicomugen/pages/1371.html Nico Nico MUGEN wiki - KAITOhttp://www.vocaloid-rank.com/rank/vocaloidinfo/kaito/ Weekly VOCALOID RANKING - KAITO This was also emphasized during the development of the V3 vocal banks, with Wat stating how different the intention of the CV series was to the intention of KAITO and MEIKO. This led to the updates taking a totally different course of development in comparison to the Appends of Miku, Len, Rin and Luka. KAITO's muffler has become one of his most iconic items. During his V3 update, there was fan outcry over the idea of it being made transparent. In answer to this, Crypton stated that cloth can be made out of anything, including plastic; there was a lot more freedom with it than many realized.Wat talking about KAITO's muffler KAITO has no official given age. However, in Maker Hikōshiki Hatsune Mix he is usually portrayed as a middle aged man by KEI. Despite this, what the artist depicts in the comic is not official, as he mentioned in a magazine interview.http://www.p-tina.net/interview/99 P-Tina.net - KEIさんの描き方について聞いてみた (Interview with KEI about drawing style) Because of the story of his rediscovery in 2008, KAITO was often depicted with ice cream. This gave birth to the "Item War" Internet Meme tradition. Relations *MEIKO: a complementary voice bank with feminine vocals. Examples of Usage Marketing The act of putting a character on the boxart was carried over to following VOCALOIDs to encourage creative activities by individuals, expanding the characters based on each user's individual needs.http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/0709/12/news035.html IT Media News - 異例の売れ行き「初音ミク」「ニコ動」で広がる音楽作りのすそ野 (Extraordinary sales for Hatsune Miku as Nico spreads the music)http://blog.crypton.co.jp/mp/2007/09/vocaloid2_15.html Crypton MEDIA phage - Vocaloid2情報 出張終了のお知らせ。http://db.g-search.or.jp/sideb/column/20080117.html G-Search side B - バーチャルアイドル？ボーカロイド？今話題の初音ミクって何？ (Virtual Idol? Vocaloid? Hatsune Miku is the new topic now?) KAITO's V3 release repeats many aspects of what made the CV series popular, and he is already due a series of "beginners guides" in magazines such as DTM. Additional information Popularity About four hours later, "An Answer To Hatsune Miku" was posted by 'Ice-P'. In this video, KAITO responds with, "yes? I was eating an ice cream," and then proceeds to sing a cover of "The Ice Cream Song" (originally sung by Saeko Shuu in 1960). KAITO's last dialogue in this video is "Miku, let's eat it together next time." It just so happened that Ice-P was producing the cover when he saw the video Tatsunami uploaded. This introduced many people to KAITO and gave him his signature item. After the turn around in popularity, many producers began to revalue KAITO as a VOCALOID, which became much of the reason why KAITO stayed popular. His voice became acknowledged for its all-round usefulness and in turn for being highly compatible with the VOCALOID, giving him flexibility in his performance. KAITO proved useful for variety of male roles that other Japanese male VOCALOIDs often did not suit; even though he was the only Japanese male powered by VOCALOID and the engine was well known for being difficult to work with in comparison to VOCALOID2 and later. Even Wat himself reasoned that much of his popularity was owed to the capabilities of his vocal. Wat quoted one of his acquaintances upon their reaction to KAITO's voice. He stated they were shocked at hearing such a "beautiful male voice".link |- |Impact= Kaito's failure initially led to the focus on mostly female vocals in Vocaloid projects by Crypton Future Media. The legacy of this consequence is that the majority of the vocals produced for the Japanese version of Vocaloid are female rather then male. |- |Misc =An independent search on Nico Nico Douga revealed that most VOCALOIDs had less than 1,000 videos uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in 2011 between July 1st and December 15th. However, KAITO managed to make it into the top six of a few lists. KAITO was the 6th most popular VOCALOID in terms of uploads, receiving 1404 uploads. KAITO had the 6th highest number of views with 1,561,894 views and 118,479 mylists. KAITO did not make the top 6 average list, however, he was the 3rd most popular VOCALOID based on the mean number of views with 414 views and 19 mylists, which is a more truer reflection of his popularity.link In 2015 a survey showed Kaito as the 5th most popular Vocaloid during the year 2014 on website Nico Video.link }} Trivia *Since YAMAHA and Crypton printed different dates for KAITO's release (YAMAHA: 14th, Crypton: 17th), some fans within the Japanese VOCALOID community celebrate KAITO's release date anniversary during all days between the different dates. *When it came to the KAITO update, the voicebanks went under much experimentation throughout the developing process. This was because although Crypton were veterans at producing VOCALOID voicebanks, they did not have so much experience with masculine toned vocals such as Fuuga Naoto's. This was due to the fact all of their other VOCALOIDs intended for the consumer market had come from female vocalists. *Owed to the difference between VOCALOID KAITO and VOCALOID3 KAITO, Wat himself referred to the two packages as like "brothers" due to their very separate natures. Notable for... *First Japanese male vocal ever released *Only VOCALOID voicebank announced as a "failure" *Subject to a sudden opinion change around *Most popular VOCALOID voicebank *Last VOCALOID voicebank produced *First VOCALOID voicebank to be updated *First male bilingual VOCALOID. *Was used in the oldest known VOCALOID related song ever released *First VOCALOID by Crypton to be updated to VOCALOID3 Gallery References External links